Building the Perfect Pond

April 15th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Scott Tucker stands on the edge of his pier. In the water below, brim make quick, jerky pokes at pellets a solar-powered feeder has just launched with an arching sweep.

“Isn’t it great?” Tucker asks. “I’m out here all the time.”
The fish are indeed a sight to behold. A little deeper are the Tiger bass, a cross between fast-growing Florida and aggressive Northern strains of largemouth bass. Released as 3-inch fingerlings in the spring of last year, they’ve grown at a torrid pace; in just six months, they have increased four times in size. By this fall, Tucker will take 3-pounders. In another year, he will hook 4-pound tigers.
This is Tucker’s Pond. Dug into the red soil of a narrow Valley of hardwoods, it is a stone’s throw from downtown Huntsville, Ala., the heart of America’s space rocket program “My wife (Ann) grew up on a farm,” Tucker says. “She’s always wanted to be back in a rustic setting.”
So it is here that the Tuckers are putting down their roots. The pond plays a large part in his and Ann’s vision of country life. Over several installments, we will take you through all that has gone into this pond-the planning, the design, the digging. We’ll show how the Tuckers arrived at having not only a perfect habitat for fish, but also how they enhanced the scenery with their pond.
Terry Goldsby, of Aqua Services, Inc., Guntersville, Ala., guides our tour. With clients across the southeast, he brings an expert’s eye to this story.

Questions Come First

When Goldsby begins consulting with a client, he asks several questions: What are your goals? What’s the ultimate product you’re looking for? Is this a pond to water livestock? Is this a pond that will produce big bass? Do you want to swim in it? Do you simply want a view?

Answers to such questions will help determine the overall design and scope of what you’ll be doing. For example, the Tuckers wanted a pond that produced water-crashing, largemouth bass. And so the 3-acre pond was designed to have raised spawning beds, cool 30-foot holes and hiding places for fingerlings.
But there are other, more basic questions you’ll need to chew on before you push dirt.

· Will the ground hold water?

The excavator who digs your pond can offer good insight. But we’d suggest you add an engineer to your pond team.

Tucker had soil borings taken to sample the soil structure. He found the pond could go on any one of several sites on the property. Consulting a geotechnical engineer, the pond was placed in a location that matched it with the maximum amount of water available to the site.

Soil samples will show if there is enough clay onsite to seal the pond against leaks and to build watertight levees. You can haul clay to your site, but that creates a whole new cost consideration.

· What is your water source?

A good water source is “the most important thing” in any pond, Goldsby says. Primarily, Tucker Pond is fed from runoff. But when it turns dry, the pond drops a half inch per day. To counter this, the runoff is supplemented with city-supplied water. A well was another choice, but the city of Huntsville wouldn’t permit it.

· What’s the quality of the water?

Does the water come from natural springs, from a creek or stream? If it is runoff, where does it come from today? How about the future? Will that pristine hillside one sprout homes and fertilized lawns? Have a water sample analyzed. A test gives you information about the suitability of the water for fish. It also gives direction to your pond management program.

· Do you need permits?

You can’t just block a stream or dig up a wetland. Goldsby knows of a person fined $10,000 for dumping soil into a wetland. Contact your Department of Natural Resources for guidance.

This article taken from Progressive Farmer, October, 2007 issue.

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